Rembrandt

Ernst van de Wetering, the Dutch art historian and longtime head of the Netherlands-based Rembrandt Research Project, has re-attributed 70 paintings to Rembrandt. [The Wall Street Journal]

City raccoons are smarter than rural raccoons. The study was done on Toronto raccoons only, though, so who knows whether the same results would be found in, say, New York. [Nautilus]

Thanks to Marina Galperina for the best Vine from last night’s Monopolart tournament at Postmasters. What a hoot! [@mfortki]

Crazy: The L.A. Board of Supervisors has added $54 million to the 84.7 million arts and culture budget. [The Los Angeles Times]

A mysterious metal object has fallen from the sky in New Jersey. [NBC New York]

The collaborative online magazine East of Borneo has just hours to go before their Kickstarter campaign closes. Help ’em out. [Kickstarter via Culture: High and Low]

Matisse, in his later years, was not in good health. Because painting was a challenge, he made work within his physical means. Holland Cotter offers a lot of meaningful background on Matisse in his review of the retrospective at MoMA. [The New York Times]

Your dog for the day: Dogs don’t make good snow angels! [@huskyheaven]

Johnson also tells Yahoo! News about the Mona Lisa of digital art. And the answer is…it does not exist. But in Johnson’s opinion, the most widely-recognized digital artwork is Jon Rafman’s “9 Eyes of Google Street View,” which premiered right here on Art F City. [Yahoo! Tech]

Crazy town. A judge has ruled that Rauschenberg trustees can receive $24.6 million in fees from the foundation. This number is considerably less than the $60 million Bennet Grutman, Rauschenberg’s accountant; Darryl Pottorf, executor of the artist’s will; and Bill Goldston, a business partner of the artist in a fine art print publishing company were looking for, but more than the $375,000 the foundation wanted to pay. $24.6 million fees are reasonable, citing their exemplary job growing the value of the estate. [The Art Newspaper]

Somebody named Richard Lawler called art advisor Todd Levin this weekend about two “newly discovered” Leonardo da Vinci paintings. Are they real? Levin seems to doubt their authenticity. Artnet called Lawler, but the call was off the record. [artnet News]

Werner Herzog gets interviewed by New York Magazine. They talk about his life’s work, his vision, his views on culture and filmmakers, Nazis and tourists, and we’re here to boil it down into a few soundbites. Actually, no. You just gotta read it. [Vulture]

It’s Barack Obama’s birthday. [Twitter]

All the ice cream cake stores in New York that will write “Free Palestine” on your cake. Dairy Queen will not. [ANIMAL New York]

The Marina Abramovic Institute, currently fundraising for a $20 million Rem Koolhaas-designed headquarters, is seeking unpaid volunteers . MAI responds to claims about unpaid labor with a statement that spools in the type of language we always hear that it’s about connections and exposure. Money? You can live without that for several months, right? And commute between Hudson and New York City for the MAI on no money, too. [Los Angeles Times]

A new study reveals that women are more likely to be lied to in negotiations than men. “One of the study’s experiments showed that part of the reason women are lied to more often is that they’re perceived as being less competent but warmer than men in negotiations.” [Time]

A weird, $999,000 Rembrandt painting appeared on eBay last week. Now, there’s furniture from the Élysée Palace, home to the French president, turning up on there too. This also comes after the news that 32 artworks and 625 pieces of furniture were missing from the residence. Sketchy. [Artnet News via Le Figaro]

Stay inside, New York. There are many ways to die by snow today. [The Awl]

Attendance at the Frick has more than doubled now that they’re borrowing Vermeer’s “Girl With the Pearl Earring.” Frick staff lets on that over 100,000 visitors have made their way into the collection since the October opening of Vermeer, Rembrandt, and Hals. [Real Clear Arts]

Can the art world ever recover from the influence of celebrity and entertainment on art? “No way,” remarked one curator at the Centre Pompidou-Metz. “And why would we, with such crossover programming in the upcoming year like Paparzzi! Photographers, Stars, and Artists?”* (*NOT A REAL QUOTE, BUT THIS IS A REAL EXHIBITION.) [e-flux]

Residents and business owners in the LES and and East Village want to keep SantaCon’s drunken hordes out of their streets. Let the protests begin. [Bowery Boogie]

Wow. Larry Gagosian has some harsh words for the new breed of collectors and partiers coming out to Miami. “Two years ago, the audience was a little more interesting from the perspective of the galleries that come here.” [Women’s Wear Daily, Alain Servais]

Ah! LACMA is starting up its Art and Technology program again—the very same one from the 1960s. They sent Claes Oldenburg to do research at Disney; John Chamberlain to Rand Corporation; Richard Serra to Kaiser Steel. Now it’s different; mostly, the program gives office space at the museum. [The New York Times]

Missed this one last week, but the Van Gogh Museum is authorizing 3-D reproductions of Van Gogh’s masterworks. $35,000 for Starry Night, y’all. The first round will debut in January, at the L.A. Art Show. [Los Angeles Times]

Do subjective end-of-year lists not make you angry? Then go ahead, read Complex’s 25 Most Important Artists of 2013 list. Francis Bacon, who just sold the world’s most expensive painting at auction barely scrapes by in the 22nd slot; Robert Indiana is just a nudge ahead of him at 21. Top artists include those who have collaborated with Lady Gaga (#10: Inez and Vinoodh) and Pharrell (#5: Daniel Arsham, #8: JR). Celebrity art collaborations ≠ Most Important Artists. [Complex]

Even though the hum around Armory week seems subdued this year, visiting half-a-dozen-plus art fairs can in a few days’ time can feel like a week on a Eurail pass. Naive outsiders are treated harshly, the food is unfamiliar and overpriced, and you spend a lot of time snooping around taking pictures. It’s useful to have an index that you can depend on to guide you towards the things that are worth seeing and away from the things that aren’t. A guidebook if you will. Here’s ours.

Police hold on to a Rembrandt that appeared out of nowhere and can’t be authenticated. The man who brought Koons and Murakami to the Gardens of Versailles is retiring. A personal trainer who describes himself as a “sculptor of the body” is opening up a gallery. Graffiti makers wish they could prevent their property from being mistreated and defaced.